My Record Muskallunge 281 



Surely no small-mouth bass could make so desperate a 

 rush, taking thirty feet of line ; yet into the air it goes, the 

 sun flashing against its sides, dropping with a crash to again 

 make a savage rush. 



Zee-zee! cries the reel again, " stabbing the soft air with 

 its shrill alarm " ; the fish now rushes in, while the little reel 

 eats up the line, stopping to fling itself into the air in a 

 paroxysm of rage or fear, shaking its massive head and, en 

 route, showing the blood-red gills, to drop and speed away 

 in some direction with a rapidity and fervor that have often 

 demoralized the tyro, broken his rod and left him speechless 

 with amazement at the suddenness of it all. 



The boatman is deftly keeping the stern to the fish, now 

 whirling it about with a violent jerk at the delicate spoon 

 blade, as the bass seems determined to encircle the boat, or 

 holding it stationary, or backing water as it makes a clear- 

 away rush astern with a spring into the air every ten feet. 

 How the reel screams zeee! Now giving out fitful notes 

 telling of sudden jerks or sturdy blows, ending with a long 

 shrill cry as the game breaks away and plunges for deeper 

 water or some rocky vantage ground which perhaps comes 

 into its memory in this time of dire need. 



But slowly the deft reel eats up the line, and the fish 

 comes in, now swerving grandly, bearing off bravely, 

 leaping still with spirit, never indicating by move or gesture 

 that it thinks of surrendering; always pugnacious, fighting 

 against the inevitable. 



Such a bass I have seen tow a boat around, bending the 

 rod nearly double before it could be brought to net. Slowly 

 it comes in; now circling the boat, and at the surface 

 careened away from you, bearing off gallantly, ready to 

 take advantage of the merest slip on the part of the angler. 

 At such times the delicate line has been known to kink 

 despite stretching, and to loop itself around the guide with 

 Satanic ingenuity, or in some mysterious manner catching the 

 handle of the reel. 



